Texas licenses record number of new physicians at 11-year mark of liability reforms

Community Reports

Published 5:00 pm, Thursday, September 11, 2014

The Texas Medical Board licensed a record 3,994 new physicians for the fiscal year that ended last month.

The board licensed 400 more doctors this year than last, said Austin internist Howard Marcus, M.D, chairman of Texas Alliance For Patient Access.

“The number of new physicians applying for a Texas license also reached an all-time high,” said Dr. Marcus, “tallying 12 percent more than last year’s previous record high.”

The state’s fiscal year begins in September and ends in August. Nearly every month was a record setter. September, the first month of the fiscal year, was the only month that did not produce a record number of new applications for that given month, said Marcus.

Texas has averaged licensing 3,254 new physicians each year since the passage of lawsuit reforms 11 years ago.

“The state medical board is now licensing twice as many doctors per year than in the medical crisis years before lawsuit reforms were enacted,” said Marcus.

“Texas needs all of the high quality doctors we can get, and we’re doing a good job of attracting them,” said Marcus.

The doctors new to Texas in recent years include:

• San Antonio emergency care physician, Alan Holder, MD, who made it a priority to practice in a state with liability reforms after he left the military; and